The technology of judging the environment of an information processing device is effective in, for example, realizing personal authentication of a user depending on a user environment, a network setting depending on a user environment, etc.
For example, the following user authentication system has been proposed to perform authentication depending on various authentication requirements for a mobile terminal service, and realize a guarantee of authentication accuracy based on the user environment of a mobile terminal.
A service provider receives a service request from a mobile terminal, and sends an adequate authentication request on the authentication requirements for each service. Each of a portal terminal and a mobile terminal is provided with an authentication means, selects an authentication means depending on the authentication requirements, and performs an authenticating process. Then, the portal terminal and the mobile terminal obtain a probability of authentication from a combined judgment in a tamper-resistant device from a plurality of likelihoods obtained as a result of the comparison by each of the portal terminal and the mobile terminal. Furthermore, the portal terminal and the mobile terminal compare the obtained probability of authentication with the threshold of probability of authentication for each service received from the service provider, and make a final judgment as for authentication. A reliability guarantee server collects and analyzes comparison logs obtained by the authenticating processes of the portal terminal and the mobile terminal, and guarantees the authentication accuracy based on the user environment for a portal terminal.
Also proposed is the following display system in which, when a setting is made between information processing terminals, a connected information processing terminal generates an appropriate initial value, updates a set value of the information processing terminal, and manages the installation of an application. In this case, the initial value refers to a value for a network setting, an application setting, etc.
In the display system, an external storage device stores setting information for communication between an information processing terminal and a display station, and an application executed in the information processing terminal. When the display station is activated or powered on, the CPU (central processing unit) stores the setting information and the application in the storage device through a recognition device storage device.
Furthermore, in an ad hoc network in which components are dynamically changed, the following radio terminal of an ad hoc network is also proposed to enable context information to be used anonymously.
The radio terminal includes an anonymous communication path table (for changing a name, for changing a seal) storage means. The radio terminal also includes a neighbor list storage means for holding particular information about an adjacent terminal on the anonymous communication path. Furthermore, the radio terminal includes a neighbor search means for performing an information exchanging process with an adjacent terminal by searching the neighbor list storage means.
For example, documents such as Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-344013, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-164092, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-88657, etc. are well known.